Chapter II: The Association Method (3)

This tallies with the "stage coach" of "little Hans." These incidents showed clearly enough that fear was again in the air, _i.e._ that a resistance had again arisen preventing transference to the parents, and that therefore a great part of her love was converted into fear. This time suspicion was not directed against the mother, but against the father, who she was sure must know the secret, but would never let anything out. What could the father be doing or keeping secret? To the child this secret appeared as something dangerous, so that she felt the worst might be expected from the father. (This feeling of childish anxiety with the father as object we see again most distinctly in adults, especially in dementia præcox, which lifts the veil of obscurity from many unconscious processes, as though it were following psychoanalytic principles.) It was for this reason that Anna came to the apparently absurd conclusion that her father wanted to drown her. At the same time her fear contained the thought that the _object of the father had some relation to a dangerous action_. This stream of thought is no arbitrary interpretation. Anna meanwhile grew a little older and her interest in her father took on a special colouring which is hard to describe. Language has no words to describe the quite unique kind of tender curiosity which shone in the child's eyes.

Anna once took marked delight in assisting the gardener while he was sowing grass, without apparently divulging the profound significance of her play. About a fortnight later she began to observe with great pleasure the young grass sprouting. On one of these occasions she asked her mother the following question: "Tell me, how did the eyes grow into the head?" The mother told her that she did not know. Anna, however, continued to ask whether God or her papa could tell this? The mother then referred her to her father, who might tell her how the eyes grew into the head. A few days later there was a family reunion at tea. When the guests had departed, the father remained at the table reading the paper and Anna also remained. Suddenly approaching her father she said, "Tell me, how did the eyes grow into the head?"

Father: "They did not grow into the head; they were there from the beginning and grew with the head."

A.: "Were not the eyes planted?"

F.: "No, they grew in the head like the nose."

A.: "Did the mouth and the ears grow in the same way? and the hair, too?"

F.: "Yes, they all grew in the same way."

A.: "And the hair, too? But the mousies came into the world naked. Where was the hair before? Aren't there little seeds for it?"

F.: "No; you see, the hair really came out of little grains which are like seeds, but these were already in the skin long before and nobody sowed them." The father was now getting concerned; he knew whither the little one's thoughts were directed, but he did not wish to overthrow, for the sake of a former false application, the opportunely established seed-theory which she had most fortunately gathered from nature; but the child spoke with an unwonted seriousness which demanded consideration.

Anna (evidently disappointed, and in a distressed tone): "But how did Freddy get into mama? Who stuck him in? and who stuck you into your mama? Where did he come out from?"

From this sudden storm of questions the father chose the last for his first answer. "Just think, you know well enough that Freddy is a boy; boys become men and girls women. Only women and not men can have children; now just think, where could Freddy come out from?"

A. (Laughs joyfully and points to her genitals): "Did he come out here?"

Father: "Yes, of course, you certainly must have thought of this before?"

A. (Overlooking the question): "But how did Freddy get into mama? Did anybody plant him? Was the seed planted?"

This very precise question could no longer be evaded by the father. He explained to the child, who listened with the greatest attention, that the mother is like the soil and the father like the gardener; that the father provides the seed which grows in the mother, and thus gives origin to a baby. This answer gave extraordinary satisfaction; she immediately ran to her mother and said, "Papa has told me everything, now I know it all." She did not, however, tell what she knew.

The new knowledge was, however, put into play the following day. Anna went to her mother and said, "Think, mama, papa told me how Freddy was a little angel and was brought from heaven by a stork." The mother was naturally surprised and said, "No, you are mistaken, papa surely never told you such a thing!" whereupon the little one laughed and ran away.

This was apparently a mode of revenge. Her mother did not wish or was not able to tell her how the eyes grew into the head, hence she did not know how Freddy got into her. It was for this reason that she again tried her with the old story.

* * * * *

I wish to impress firmly upon parents and educationists this instructive example of child psychology. In the learned psychological discussions on the child's psyche we hear nothing about those parts which are so important for the health and naturalness of our children, nor do we hear more about the child's emotions and conflicts; and yet they play a most important rôle.

It very often happens that children are erroneously treated as quite imprudent and irrational beings. Thus on indulgently remarking to an intelligent father, whose four-year-old daughter masturbated excessively, that care should be exercised in the presence of the child who slept in the same room as the parents, I received the indignant reply, "I can absolutely assure you that the child knows nothing about sexual matters." This recalls that distinguished old neurologist who wished to deny the attribute "sexual" to a childbirth phantasy which was represented in a dreamy state.

On the other hand, a child evincing neurotic talent exaggerated by neurosis may be urged on by solicitous parents. How easy and tempting it would have been, _e.g._ in the present case, to admire, excite, and develop prematurely the child's eager desire for learning, and thereby develop an unnatural _blasé_ state and a precociousness masking a neurosis! In such cases the parents must look after their own complexes and complex tendencies and not make capital out of them at the expense of the child. The idea should be dismissed once for all that children are to be held in bondage by their parents or that they are their toys. They are characteristic and new beings. In the matter of enlightenment on sexual things it can be affirmed that they suffer from the preconceived opinion that the truth is harmful. Many neurologists are of opinion that even in grown-ups enlightenment on their own psychosexual processes is harmful and even immoral. Would not the same persons perhaps refuse to admit the existence of the genitals themselves?

One should not, however, go from this extreme of prudishness to the opposite one, namely that of enlightenment _à tout prix_, which may turn out as foolish as it is disagreeable. In this matter I believe much discretion is advisable; still if children come upon an idea, they should be deceived no more than adults.

I hope, ladies and gentlemen, that I have shown you what complicated psychic processes psychoanalytic investigation reveals in the child, and how great is the significance of these processes for the mental health as well as for the general psychic development of the child. What I have been unable to show is the universal validity of these observations. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to demonstrate this, for I do not know myself how much of it is universally valid. Only by accumulation of such observations and further penetration into the problems broached shall we gain a complete insight into the laws of psychical development. It is to be regretted that we are at present still far from this goal. But I confidently hope that educators and practical psychologists, whether physicians or deep-thinking parents, will not leave us too long unassisted in this immensely important and interesting field.

LITERATURE.

1. FREUD. "Die Traumdeutung," II Auflage. Deuticke, Wien, 1909.

2. ---- ----. "Sammlung kleiner Schriften zur Neurosenlehre," Band
I & II. Deuticke, Wien.

3. ---- ----. "Analyse der Phobie eines 5 jahrigen Knaben,"
_Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische u. Psychopathologische
Forschungen_, Band I. Deuticke, Wien, 1908.

4. FREUD. "Der Inhalt der Psychose," _Freud's Shriften zur
angewandten Seelenkunde._ Deuticke, 1908.

5. JUNG. "Diagnostische Associationsstudien," Band I. Barth,
Leipzig, 1906.

6. ---- ----. "Die Psychologische Diagnose des Thatbestandes." Carl
Marhold, Halle, 1906.

7. JUNG. "Die Bedeutung des Vaters für das Schicksal des
Einzelnen." Deuticke, Wien, 1908.

8. JUNG. "The Psychology of Dementia Præcox," translated by
Peterson and Brill, _Journal of Mental and Nervous Diseases_,
Monograph Series, No. 2.

9. FÜRST. "Statistische Untersuchungen über Wortassoziationen
und über familiäre Übereinstimmung im Reactionstypus bei
Ungebildeten," X. Beitrag der Diagnost. Assoc. Studien, vol. II.

10. BRILL. "Psychological Factors in Dementia Præcox,"
_Journal of Abnormal Psychology_, vol. III., No. 4.

11. ---- ----. "A case of Schizophrenia," _American Journal of
Insanity_, vol. LXVI., No. 1.

12. "Le Nuove Vedute della Psicologia Criminale," _Rivista de
Psicologia Applicata_, 1908, No. 4.

13. "L'Analyse des Rêves," _Année Psychologique_, 1909, Tome
XV.

14. "Associations d'idées Familiales," _Archives de
Psychologie_, T. VII., No. 26.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 125: Lectures delivered at the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the opening of Clark University, September, 1909; translated from the German by Dr. A. A. Brill, of New York. Reprinted by kind permission of Dr. Stanley Hall.]

[Footnote 126: The selection of these stimulus words was naturally made for the German language only, and would probably have to be considerably changed for the English language.]

[Footnote 127: Denotes misunderstanding.]

[Footnote 128: Denotes repetition of the stimulus words.]

[Footnote 129: Denotes repetition of the stimulus words.]

[Footnote 130: + denotes Reproduced unchanged.]

[Footnote 131: Denotes misunderstanding.]

[Footnote 132: Denotes repetition of the stimulus words.]

[Footnote 133: Denotes misunderstanding.]

[Footnote 134: Denotes repetition of the stimulus words.]

[Footnote 135: Denotes repetition of the stimulus words.]

[Footnote 136: Denotes repetition of the stimulus words.]

[Footnote 137: Denotes repetition of the stimulus words.]

[Footnote 138: Denotes repetition of the stimulus words.]

[Footnote 139: Reaction times are always given in fifths of a second.]

[Footnote 140: "Studies in Word Association," in course of publication.]

[Footnote 141: "Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen," Band I. Deuticke, Wien, 1902.]

[Footnote 142: This lecture was originally published in the "Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen," Band II.]

[Footnote 143: "Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen," Band I. Deuticke, Wien, 1902.]

[Footnote 144: Jung: "The Psychology of Dementia Præcox," translated by Peterson and Brill. _Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases_, Monograph Series, No. 3.]

[Footnote 145: This wish to sit up with the father and mother until late at night often plays a great part later in a neurosis.]

[Footnote 146: A doll from Punch and Judy.]

[Footnote 147: See analysis of a five-year-old boy, _Jahrbuch f. Psychoanalytische u. Psychopathologische Forschungen_, vol. I.]

[Footnote 148: Franz Riklin, "Fulfilment of Wishes and Symbolism in Fairy Tales."]